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	 <TITLE>Book Review: I Love You Like Crazy Cakes</TITLE> 
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	 <H2 ALIGN="CENTER">Book Review: I Love You Like Crazy Cakes </H2>
	 <P><B><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">Written by Rose Lewis</FONT></B></P>
	 <P><B><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">Illustrated by Jane Dyer</FONT></B></P>
	 <P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">Reviewed by Heather McDonald</FONT></P>
	 <P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">Little, Brown and Company,
		Boston/NY/London, publishers, 2000.</FONT></P>
	 <P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">This is a story that will be familiar to
		all of us. It is particularly appropriate for single mothers who have adopted a
		baby girl from China. This is because the author is a single woman who writes
		in the first person to her daughter, describing the trip to China to adopt her.
		The narrative chronicles the baby's trip from a crib in a big room with many
		other babies, to her own crib in her home home with her American mother.
		</FONT></P>
	 <P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">The watercolour illustrations are beautiful
		and the story is a gentle one celebrating the love between the author and her
		daughter, and the miracle of adoption.</FONT></P>
	 <P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">This book was sent to us as a gift from a
		relative almost one year ago. Interestingly, I did not like it very much at the
		time and did not read it or show it to our daughter. Digging it out a year
		later to prepare this book review, I now did enjoy reading it but still have
		not read it or shown it to our daughter. In analysing my response, I think it
		has something to do with the author's focus on the mother as the most important
		relative in a child's life, indeed almost the only important relative. For
		example, the story says the each of the little babies in the orphanage was
		missing something - a mother. This is true as far as it goes. But they were
		also missing a father and an entire extended family of siblings (possibly),
		aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and so on. At the end of the book, the
		author relates her feelings of sadness for her daughter's Chinese mother. It is
		very touching and a lovely tribute to the birth mother. But for me, it feels
		like a half-truth as it leaves out the birth father and others in the birth
		family who have also suffered a loss and may be mourning this loss. </FONT></P>
	 <P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="-1">I do not want this criticism, which is only
		my own personal reaction, to encourage people away from reading and/or buying
		this book. It is apparently a very popular best-seller and I do emphasize that
		the story is well-written and accurate from the author's perspective of her
		trip to China and her adoption experience. </FONT></P>
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		SIZE="-2"><B>Last Updated: November 25th, 2001</B></FONT> </FONT>
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